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Basketball Coach's Book A Celebration Of Game

Coaches often are as one-dimensional as paint and as boring as bran flakes, but not Mel Roustio.

Roustio has been a head basketball coach for 34 years, but he has also been a teacher, administrator, radio talk show host and motivational speaker.

Now he's an author, too.

The Stephen Decatur coach has compiled a book, "Courtside Memories," that attempts to capture the human side of basketball through the recollections of coaches, players, officials and others.

Roustio has tapped the memory banks of such former coaching greats as Jim Brown of DuSable, Jack Burmaster of Evanston, Ron Ferguson of Thornridge, Vergil Fletcher of Collinsville and Sherrill Hanks of Quincy and such current luminaries as Luther Bedford of Marshall, Mike Flaherty of Thornridge, Gene Pingatore of St. Joseph, Tom Shields of Pontiac and Duncan Reid of Rock Island.

He got the idea for the book late last season--his 21st as Jacksonville coach--when his wife, Gerry, noted his 500th victory by surprising him with a compilation of hundreds of comments and memories from former players, associates and officials. Roustio decided to celebrate the game itself in a similar way.

"There had to be some incredible stories out there," he said.

Roustio contacted the approximately 750 active high school coaches in Illinois and about 800 members of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, which includes coaches, players, officials, media members and friends of the game. He asked them to recall humorous anecdotes and memorable games and to summarize their coaching philosophies.

More than 200 responded, and the result is 92 pages of big games, huge comebacks, buzzer-beaters, upsets, controversies and oddities. (It's available for $12.57, which includes tax and shipping, from Creative Ideas, Inc., P.O. Box 998, Jacksonville, Ill. 62651-0998.)

The book is not for everyone, and a few items fall flat; but people who have participated in the game and fans who appreciate its history and personalities will get a few laughs and a few ideas.

The legendary Fletcher, for example, recalls the time East St. Louis coach "Pick" Dehner held the ball against him even though Collinsville led by 15 points in the fourth quarter. Fletcher finally sent a note telling Dehner, "If you call time I will substitute." Dehner wrote back, "Go to hell," and went to sit in the bleachers.

Then there's the time Lincoln coach Neil Alexander ripped the seat of his pants when he bent down during a timeout against Decatur MacArthur and the time a freshman described a defense to former East Aurora coach Scott Martens as a "1-3-1-1."

On the more serious side, former Tinley Park coach Gordon Rogers remembers a team manager who became a high-ranking Naval officer, and Peoria Central coach Chuck Buescher reminds coaches to, "Push your players. Most people do not expect enough from their kids."

Humorous or serious, the book's anecdotes reflect the importance of the relationships made through sports.

"I think what it says is that when all is said and done and all the tallies are made, life is about those relationships," said Roustio, pointing out, for instance, that Fletcher and Dehner were friends who would attend the track together. "You'd ask no quarter and give none, go at it and then reflect about the wonderful opportunity you had to do it."

Roustio has won 503 games at four Illinois high schools but says it's the relationships, not the victories, that have meant the most to him and keep him in the gym.

It's why when he decided that 21 years at Jacksonville was enough, he pursued the coaching position at Stephen Decatur. That school's previous coach, Tom Crews, had lost his job in the wake of charges last winter that included aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving three players. Crews was acquitted of those charges.

Relationships, Roustio said, also are why he kept coaching four years ago after taking early retirement as a teacher.

Not that he really retired. He started a popular four-hour morning radio show in Jacksonville and began taking on about a dozen speaking gigs a year at high schools throughout Illinois.

His presentations focus on motivation and relationships among parents, athletes and coaches. One talk aims at helping coaches handle off-the-court duties so they can avoid burnout.

At 59, Roustio has lost none of his passion for basketball. He can't wait until practice begins Nov. 9 and says he plans to keep coaching as long as his health and energy level hold up.

He still believes coaching, warts and all, is a noble calling, and hopes his book and speeches help make that point.

"People who coach are caretakers of people's fields of dreams," he said. "I want to get that message out."